Airwaves

by Brian Goslow

The WCUW 1998 Cultural Connection Concert Series kicks off this Saturday with Gospel Explosion '98, which takes place from 2 to 6 p.m. at Elm Park. The free concert will also air over WCUW (91.3 FM). Station manager Joe Cutroni says the concert is the biggest gospel show ever held in the city and the largest the station has presented in a city park. "The biggest group is 65 people, so it should be our biggest crowd ever."

The event features the debut of Worcester gospel choir Psalms: The Next Generation of Worshippers, who'll share the stage with the Azza Mass Choir of the Beulah Mission Seventh Day Adventist Church of Bronx, New York (Apollo Theatre performers), Minister Everton M. McIntyre and the United Voices in Praise of the Church of God of East Flatbush, New York, the Northeast Regional Baha's Gospel Choir, directed by Eric T. Dozier, who formed the One Human Family Music Workshop, and the show-closing NYS Haitian Interdenominational Mass Choir of New York. The program also includes a talk by inspirational speaker Arthur L. Andrews.

The series continues on Sunday with a Bastille Day presentation of traditional folk and contemporary French pop music by singer Lucie Therrien at 2 p.m., also at Elm Park.

Miquel Almestica anchors a showcase of Latin Jazz as part of the afternoon-long Second Annual Main South Summer Festival on August 1, while music from the Highlands makes its first appearance at the series on August 14. "We'll have some vocalists, bag pipes, and hopefully some dancers," Cutroni says. Sounds of Scotia, heard Saturday mornings from 11 a.m. to noon, is one of the station's longest-running shows. Polka superstar Eddie Forman appears on August 15, and Russian pianist Leonid Shapiro, who's performed classical-centered programs in the past, presents contemporary Russian favorites on August 29.

Performers for shows featuring music from India (August 8), Albania (August 30), Greece (September 12), and Ireland (September 13) are still being organized. "We're doing something I don't think anyone else is doing in Worcester -- celebrating our cultural heritage. We want to introduce people to cultures they're not familiar with."

AND THE STATE OF THE COMMUNITY BROADCASTER, as it nears its 25th anniversary on December 4? "Same as its been for the last 24 years," says Cutroni. "We're struggling." Longtime listeners may remember when it celebrated its birthday by mixing music and merchants at Mechanics Hall. "We already have a committee working on it to decide what we're going to do about it," says Cutroni, who's looking for someone to explore WCUW's vast tape library to pull out some nostalgic highlights. "We need someone to dig through the archives. It would be great to hear some of the old voices." Are you that person? Call Cutroni at 753-1012.

A two-day fundraiser, with special guests, is slated for late July to raise some quick cash for the station. Send a check to WCUW, 910 Main Street, Worcester 01610. "There's a lot more competition [in] fundraising. Every station on the airwaves would like to capture every listener, but I'm very confident we'll survive, because we're the only one doing what we do; but there's a niche for everything we do.

"A community that has an independent station should nurture it and support it because once they lose it, they're not going to get it back."